ETFs

North America's First Spot Solana ETFs Launches in Canada

By: Andres Rincon

Apr. 30, 2025 - 5 minutes 30 seconds

A person stands in an office at night looking at a laptop computer and surrounded by data charts on multiple monitors.

Overview:

Canada launched the first spot Solana ETFs — the first of their kind in North America.
Solana is the seventh-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, achieving high transaction speeds without sacrificing decentralization.
In the short-term, Solana staking could provide higher yields that cover management fees as we saw with some Canadian Ether ETFs.
Success in Canada could beget U.S. Solana ETFs, multi-crypto currency ETFs and spot XRP ETFs on the horizon.

A number of spot Solana ETFs launched in Canada this month, effectively kickstarting spot Solana ETFs for Canada and North America. The Canadian ETF market has long been an innovative hub for the ETF industry globally. It is the birthplace of the first ETF, first fixed income ETF, and more recently, first spot Bitcoin and Ether ETFs. Now that list expands to include the launch of North America's first spot Solana ETF.

In the U.S. there are already ETFs that track Solana via listed Solana futures. The Solana ETFs that were filed in Canada will invest in long-term holdings of Solana in physical form as opposed to Solana futures. Each ETF will track its corresponding Solana index designed to measure the performance of Solana coins traded in U.S. dollars. Note that Solana ETFs are available CAD hedged, CAD unhedged and USD units across different issuers.

As Solana uses a Proof of Stake mechanism, Solana holders can stake their Solana to earn rewards. All Solana ETFs to be launched will engage in staking activities to earn rewards. In some cases, the staking rewards (after fees and expenses) are expected to be large enough to cover the management fees of the ETF and as a result, may potentially lead to the investors in these ETFs experiencing positive carry as a unit holder. Ether staking ETFs have already set a precedent for positive-carry ETFs, with some of the Canadian Ether ETFs earning more in staking than they charge in management fees.

Bitcoin and Ether ETFs in Canada have total assets under management (AUM) of CA$5.5 billion and CA$$746 million respectively. In addition, the daily average turnover of Bitcoin and Ether ETFs was CA$93 million and CA$12 million respectively over the last 20 days. Based on their relative market cap, Solana ETFs may see total AUM of around CA$250 million with daily turnover of CA$4 million in due time.

Why Solana? Yields with Speed

Solana is a crypto platform that aims to achieve high transaction speeds without sacrificing decentralization. The computers that secure the network are called validators. Participants stake their own Solana to become a validator in exchange for a chance at earning new Solana coins and a cut of fees. Solana is the seventh largest cryptocurrency based on market cap. According to Forbes, Solana had a total market cap of US$69 billion (April 14, 2025). Solana's market cap is significantly lower than Bitcoin and Ether, which have market caps of US$1.69 trillion and US$202 billion , respectively.

Solana and Ethereum are both widely used blockchain platforms. Ethereum still dominates the smart contract platform, while Solana focuses on high-speed, low-cost transactions and real-time applications. Due to its high-speed nature, Solana staking may require more infrastructure than Ether staking. Another difference is that the unbonding period for Solana staking is typically one epoch, which lasts two to three days. On the other hand, users wait time to unlock Ether staking depends on the network platform and its conditions, varying from a few hours to several days. Note that recent development of Ether platform may enable a more flexible unbonding process for Ether in the future.

By contrast, Bitcoin is primarily a store of value and a unit of exchange. Bitcoin uses Proof of Work mechanisms, while Ether and Solana use Proof of Stake. Proof of stake is considered a more energy efficient consensus and enables greater transaction speed, while proof of work is considered more secure.

Broader ETF Industry Impact

The launch of spot Solana ETFs in Canada may trigger changes in the ETF industry.

Spot Solana ETFs in the U.S.

Like spot Bitcoin and Ether ETFs, spot Solana ETFs may soon come to the U.S. ETF market once the SEC gives the green light. A successful launch in Canada may accelerate the process. Based on the Bitcoin and Ether ETF experience, investors tend to prefer spot crypto ETFs to future-based ETFs.

Solana Closed-end Fund

Solana closed-end funds had large premiums to net asset value (NAV) in its early days. However, premiums have significantly dropped since November 2024 in anticipation of the Solana ETF approval. The premium is expected to further reduce once spot Solana ETFs are launched.

New ETFs Developed on Spot Solana ETFs

Multi-Crypto Currency ETFs: Multi-crypto ETFs have been popular with investors seeking broad crypto exposure in one click. With the launch of spot Solana ETFs, ETF investors may see multi-crypto ETFs holding Solana ETFs coming to the market shortly. Yield Enhanced and Lightly Leveraged ETFs: Once spot Solana ETFs successfully launch, yield enhanced and lightly leveraged Solana ETFs may launch in short order.

Will Spot XRP ETFs Come Soon?

Now that spot Solana ETFs have been approved, XRP is widely expected by the industry to be the next crypto currency coming to the ETF space. XRP is a cryptocurrency and native token of the XRP Ledger — an open-source blockchain. Both XRP and the XRP Ledger are used by blockchain services company Ripple on its payment platform to facilitate transactions between financial institutions, businesses, and organizations. Recently, the SEC dropped a legal case against Ripple, boosting hopes for XRP ETFs.

That being said, XRP hasn't had futures listed on the CME yet. The listing of futures is considered a key consideration for regulators to approve spot crypto ETFs. As a result, the ETF industry will watch closely when CME lists XRP futures or futures of any crypto currencies. Once the future is listed and demonstrates healthy trading, a spot ETF may soon come to the market.

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Andres Rincon

Managing Director and Head of ETF Sales and Strategy, TD Securities

Andres Rincon
Managing Director and Head of ETF Sales and Strategy, TD Securities

Biography

Andres Rincon heads ETF sales and strategy at TD Securities. His ETF team advises both institutional and wealth investors on the ETF landscape and strategies, publishes a broad array of ETF publications, and works with TD's ETF market making team in facilitating ETF orders. Andres joined TD Securities in 2008, first managing credit risk for the dealer, and later as a member of the Equity Derivatives division. He later took on the task of expanding TD Securities' ETF sales and strategy platform. He is also a Chartered Market Technician (CMT).